Everybody's household rules and expectations for dog behavior are different, and I allow for a wide variation.

At my house, I like the idea of the entire "pack" sleeping in proximity of each other. I have the space to do so (with crates in the bedroom) and from the very first night have had minimal issues with puppies crying in a crate as long as they can see/hear/smell the rest of the people and dogs in the family. They take to their crates right away, and I think it helps integrate a new puppy into the family/pack hierarchy. They're content and quiet. I'm asleep. I do like the fact that I can hear them rustle, puke, or whatever in the middle of the night. If they are crated in my bedroom I can do something about it. If they were in the garage or basement, I couldn't.

Ok, it's time to add a Moderator message here.

I'm going to step in and make a comment to Al due to some of the quality of advice that he's gotten.

This is a generic statement for the most part, but it holds true for this thread.

The quality of advice you can get on a forum ranges from excellent to so bad that it can place you in direct danger if you follow it. The expertise of people giving advice in this forum can range from seasoned professionals that have trained several hundred dogs to beginning pet owners - but everyone is allowed to give their advice. So it's up to the original poster to decide which advice that he's received that is good, and which advice is so poor as to be useless (and the whole reason that I've placed this comment is that there has been frankly bad advice given in a few of the comments by one poster)...

Will Rambeau
Moderator

 Quote: tommy devito

She did that on leash! And I'd taken her out to potty 5 minutes prior. Just turned my back for a moment or two, and bam! She is learning well but she still likes to dominate the minute she feels comfortable enough that she can get away with it She is a puppy and puppies will always test the limits in my opinion.

I did not read this whole thread all the way through, but this stands out at me.

If this pup is doing as she pleases, then I would have to say I would not call it a dominance issue, but rather a supervision (or lack of) issue.
If you tether the pup to you, the likelyhood for any kind of destructive or unwanted behaviors diminish greatly and she learns what you, as her pack leader, what the acceptable behaviors are.

When allowed free run of the house, you cannot keep your eyes on her all the time, therefore, she will amuse herself with whatever because she does not know any better or she will eliminate inside, because again, she does not know any different.

It is up to you to be a fair and consistent leader and make sure she understands the "rules" before you discipline her. And when I say discipline I do not mean any kind of physical punishment.

This is a puppy, and puppies need and deserve positive reinforcement training in order to learn effectively.

I would research this site, read the articles on raising a puppy, order some dvd's on raising puppies, basic obedience and marker training and start training the way the works effectively and produces a happy, well mannered dog.

Puppies test nothing....they simply do not know the limits, as the puppy grows and matures and KNOWS what the rules are, then it is safe to say they may be "testing the boundries", but not before you can 100% say the pup knows what you want.
Sorry for the hijack....back to the original posters questions.

Al, absolute consistency is the key here, I believe. As others have pointed out, you do not want to reward the unwanted behavior, EVER. Once you do, the dog perceives that upping the ante works to get what she wants.

I also think that marking/rewarding for good crate behavior is a great tool.... especially if you stand there during unwanted behavior and then instantly mark when it stops.

And what Alyssa says about dissociating the crate with "the bad thing" is really crucial. I'd go in and out of the crate room, remembering to mark for good behavior, staying there for a few minutes, randomly leaving and returning with zero fanfare.

I've had several (I think most, actually) dogs who did best with the crate being fairly close to the humans, and I did what Mike Arnold said: I bought foam ear plugs.

Just like a dog I have who (at first) wanted everyone to get up at 5:45. He warbled, yelled, yodeled, and moaned for a looooooong time starting at 5:45. But I never once went to him or spoke to him or got out of bed; I did not respond. This habit was extinguished within a week, and it was pretty halfhearted by about the third day.

If I had responded when he got really really bad, I'd have been teaching him that really really bad works.

(Of course, if I had had any idea that he needed to be let out for potty, this would have been different. But I was letting him out at midnight every night just to be sure that that aspect didn't confuse the issue.)

Now this dog (long ago having earned his no-crate) just comes to the side of the bed and waits. He has learned what time to do this, too. I hear the paws-on-carpet within 5 minutes of the time I get up, every morning.

P.S. I have had many dogs (past and present) who were "pre-owned." I feel pretty safe in assuring you that consistency on your part will allow this unrewarded unwanted behavior to be extinguished. No attention to it at all, whether positive or negative. Attention only for the wanted crate behavior.

(BTW, barking is somewhat different, since it's self-rewarding to many dogs. Barking isn't what we're talking about here.)

This kind of whining, I believe (after lots of experience), will end.

Well, it's been several weeks. Sasha is now sleeping through the night. She wakes up when my older GSD starts opening his bedroom door. There is the slightest whimper from her as she believes it's time to get up. Luckily it is about the time we all have to get up. I did take the time to teach her how to read a clock, but the weekend thing is still being worked on.

What worked was putting her in her crate, same place it started, Closing the door and leaving her alone so she could sleep. In the beginning, when she cried, I would come down and tell her in a very firm voice, Quiet!. I was the pack leader scolding her for her behavior. She must have read the book because she picked up on that right away. Only had to do it 3 or 4 nights and she was sleeping or at least being quiet through the night.

We started Basic Obedience last Friday with my 12 year old as her handler. They did real well except Sasha does show quite a bit of dog aggression. After 3 corrections in the ring she calmed down. I am using a training collar and choke chain together as suggested here. Not only did it make lots of sense when Ed suggested it, I had a training collar come apart several years ago on a hard correction with a 98# GSD I was training.

I wanted to thank everyone for offering suggestions on this question.... The Prozac worked wonders especially with the glass of wine. LOL

 Quote: mike arnold

Mr. Young,

The puppy is training you.

Two cents.

I just giggled when you said "the puppy is training you." You gave a very good advise.

I came to this thread yesterday after several VERY tough nights with my 8 week old Lab. I found some good advice ( Mike, Connie)which I applied last night. 1)Woke her up and took her out just before I fell asleep 2) Put her back in the crate immediately after her 2x out to pee 3)Let her cry, which lasted about 15 min each time. I just kept telling her to "settle" in a gentle/firm voice.
Best sleep I have had in 2 weeks!! Staying the course.
Thanks!

Gina,
I don't expect a full nights sleep for about 6 weeks after I bring a new puppy home.
And the first 2-3 weeks getting up 3-4x's during the night.

The pup would rather sleep all night too.
How do you sleep when you have to go?

interesting read from all the posts...

just like to add - with my own dogs, i 'move them' a lot too - i.e. they get used to being crated in different places - car, my brother's house, dads house etc..
then also changing the confinement area to other cages, rooms, cars, etc.

basically bringing my dogs to wherever i go... (Generalisation?)

the reason i say cuz it can be a real pain having a dog that has only been in one resting place for its entire life - not just a pain, but very stressful for a dog.

my source: i made the mistake of taking a 'friends friends' dog for a weekend and the dog destroyed one of my house doors.

i guess one part of 'training' is habituating your dog to unnatural human environments - some of us probably do it without intention - take it slow. dont stress your dog out too much.